Full text of "Asoka"
KAMA VARP.fA RE"’."" ' ,p TIT'TE,
TRICHUR. COCHiN ; T^-
8 NO 1/1948
By the same Author
I. A HISTORY OF INDIAN SHIPPING AND MARITIME
ACTIVITY FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES With an
Introductory Note by Sib Bn*i*f«D*»s<»rn Ssal. M.A,
D.Sc., PhD. Vice-Chancellor. Mysore University
[Longman*. London. 191 *3
3 . THE FUNDAMENTAL UNITY OF INDIA (Irom Hindu
Source.). With an Introductory Noto by the Right Hon.
Mr. J. Ramsay Macoomau*. MP.
[Longman*. London. 1914)
3. LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN ANCIENT INDIA. With
Foreword by the MAnausaa OF Cun
[Clarendon Press. Oxford. Second Edition. 19*0)
4. NATIONALISM IN HINDU CULTURE (Mysore Univer-
sity P-xtcnUon Lectures. 1919) . .
(Asian Library Series. I.ccdoo. 19
j. MEN AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT INDIA
[Macmillan A Co , London, ioj«J
6. HARSIIA (Calcutta University Readership lecture*. 191J)
[Rulers ol India Series. Oxford. 1936)
VIRM4 RESEAr M
'C<CHUR. 1 0CH"W
8 NUVI950
k, * T !TUTE.
ASOKA
[GJEKlf'jfD LECTURES]
"fA VARMA RESEARCH IRSTIT"
TRfCHLiR. COCHIN STATE,
a >» j V 19 *50
l*Y
RADHAKUMUD MOOKERJI
M.A.* F«i-IX # lriHA.NA‘SiaoMAMi
r*c*»»K»t ai*D «9M x» o* TM« rKfArru««T or ivoiam hictc^v.
IUCaWA UHlVKKMTr; Ml* W*;M¥K*A *l¥ *AVAp »AO
<iU»W»|l WlimilM. m/IMAV AMI
L«tfTi*a* ‘t/x. f>)
MACMILLAN AND CO, LIMITED
ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON
i/vX 19^8
« 1
COPYRIGHT
r*IHT*D IN GRKAT ARIT AlS
TO
THE SACRED MEMORY
OF
MY MOTHER
JAGANMOHINl DEVI
184S-1910
«T ^
PREFATORY NOTE
Tut present work has crown out of my lectures at the
university. This mainly explains the addition of another
work to the many already existing on the subject.
Hut they are not too many for the subject. In spite of u
large literature, old and new, in different languages, Pali.
Sanskrit, English, French, and r.erman, seeking from a
variety of standpoints to interpret the unique personality
and achievements ol Asoka, the interpretation is not yet
adequate or final. The very basis of the interpretation is
something that is shifting, growing, and improving. The
words of Asoka, tolling best his own tale, and inscribed by
him in imperishable characters on some of the permanent
fixtures of Nature, have not themselves come to light all at
once, but were discovered piecemeal, and at different places
and times. The search for them in out-of-the-way places,
the centres of population in Asoka 's days, but now remote
from the haunts of men. and hidden away in jungles, is a
story oi considerable physical daring and adventure in its
early stages. But the discovery of the inscriptions did not
mean the end of the chase. There was the difficulty of their
decipherment, of finding the key t» a knowledge that was
lost and forgotten. The knowledge of the script in which
Asoka had his words written on many a lock or pillar had
remained lost to India for ages. The Chinese travellers,
Fa-hien and Yuan Cliwang. for instance, who had visited
India in two different periods, the fourth and the seventh
century A t* respectively, and who were themselves no mean
linguists, could not find local experts to help them to a right
reading of the A&okun inscriptions they had come across on
their itineraries. They have recorded wrong readings of
vil
viii PREFATORY NOTE
those inscriptions, the results of mere guess-work or hearsay
information of local people not confessing to their own
ignorance of the scripts. Indeed, the recovery of this long-
lost knowledge of Asokan script is a romance of- modem
scholarship. Even when the script was deciphered, and the
words of Asoka were read, there was the further problem of
their correct interpretation.
Thus Asokan scholarship has now to record more than a
century of progress in its three directions of the discovery,
decipherment, and interpretation of the inscriptions. The
progress is marked by the following principal events :
It was about 1750 that an Asokan inscription was first
discovered when Padre Ticffenthaler saw at Delhi fragments
of the Delhi-Mirath Pillar.
In 1785, J H. Harington first visited the Barabar and
Nagarjuni Hill Caves. A few years earlier, Hodges on his
way to the caves was assassinated " by the followers of one
of the allies of Chyt Singh."
About the same time, the Dclhi-Topra Pillar Inscription
was found by Captain Policr, who presented some drawings
of same to Sir William Jones.
In 1801 were published in the Asiatic Researches copies of
the Delhi-Topra Pillar Inscription, and of portions of the
Allahabad-Kosam Pillar Inscription from copies made by
Captain James Hoarc.
In 1822 the Gimar Rock Inscription was found by Major
James Tod.
In r 834 was published in the third volume of the Bengal
Asiatic Society’s Journal the copy of the Allahabad Pillar
Inscription made by Lieutenant T. S. Burt, together with a
classified table of the Asokan letters prepared by James
Prinsep. At that time Prinsep was not able to read the
entire Asokan alphabet, but could only guess the value of
post-consonantal a. e, and Anutvdra. After six months'
study, he improved his knowledge by recognising the
consonants y, v. and s.
In 1836, the Shahbazgarhi Rock Edict was discovered by
M. A. Court, a French officer of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
The year 1837 is memorable in the history of Asokan
PREFATORY NOTE ix
scholarship. It witnessed the first successful reading of an
Asokan inscription, the Ddhi-Topra Pillar Edict, by Prinsep,
who published his reading and translation of the inscription
in JASII, Vol. vi. He had then already had before him
copies of the inscriptions on the two pillars at Lauriya Araraj
and Lauriya Nandangarh. The same year he also published
a lithograph of the Delhi-Mirath Pillar Inscription from
impressions taken by Major P. L. Pew. as also the Queen’s
Edict. The last event of the year was the discovery in
another remote part of India of the Dhauli Rock Edict by
Lieutenant Kittoe.
In 1838, further progress in Asokan studies was achieved
by Prinsep who made the first comparative study of the
l wo Asokan inscriptions at Gimar and Dhauli. discovered
their identity in script, language, and contents, and
deciphered and published them with translations in JASD,
Vol. vii. Tracings on cloth of the Girnar Inscription were
made by Captain Lang in 1835 for the Rev. L>r. J. Wilson
of Bombay, who then sent them on to Prinsep for decipher-
ment. Kittoe's copies of the Dhauli Inscription were also
before Prinsep in 1838. These were his revised copies which
he obtained at risk to his life. As stated by him, he arrived
at Dhauli " before day-break and had to wait till it was
light : for the two hear cubs which escaped me there last
year, is lien I killed the old bear, were now full grown and
disputed the ground " \JASB. Vol. vii. 219],
In 1839, a copy of the Sahasram Rock Edict was secured
by E. I.. Ravenshaw from Shah Kabiruddin.
In 1*30, copies of the Shahbazgarhi Rock Edict were made
by C. Masson by going to the spot through a perilous region
at considerable personal risk. The copies were examined in
Europe by Norris, who first read in them the word Devilnum-
piyasa written in KharosthI script.
In 1840 was also discovered on the rock at Bairat the so-
called Bhabru Edict by Captain Burt whose copy of it was
transcrilied and translated by Captain Kittoe "with the aid
of the learned Pandit KamalA KAnta ” \JASB. Vol. Lx. 617].
In i8jo, the Jaugada Rock Inscription was copied by Sir
"’alter Elliot who could recognise it to be another version
X
PREFATORY NOTE
of Asoka’s Edicts which had been already found at Shah-
bazgarhi, Gimar, and Dhaull.
In i860, the Kalsi Rock Inscription was discovered by
Forrest who found its whole surface " encrusted with the
dark moss of ages."
In 1872, Carlleyle discovered the Bairat Minor Rock Edict.
To him wc also owe the discovery of the Rampurwa Pillar
Edict about the same time.
During these seventies was also discovered the Rupnath
Minor Rock Edict which was originally found and very
imperfectly copied some time ago by a servant of Colonel
Ellis for the Bengal Asiatic Society.
Then followed in 1879 the epoch-making publication of
Cunningham on the inscriptions of Asoka. being Vol. i. of
the Corpus Inzcripiionum Indicarum. This work may he
taken to mark the second stage in the history of Asokan
scholarship, the first stage being represented in the work of
Prinsep, Bumouf, and Wilson (1850). It will appear that of
the Rock Edicts. Prinsep and Burnouf knew only of three,
viz. , those at Shahbazgarhi, Girnar. and Dhauli, and Bumouf
and Wilson, of the Bhabru Edict as well ; of the Cave-
inscriptions, Prinsep knew only of Nagarjuni, and Bumouf,
of both Nagarjuni and Barabar ; and of the Pillar
Edicts, Prinsep knew of all the versions except those at
KauSambi and Sanchi. By the time of Cunningham's
Corpus, several additional Asokan Edicts were known, viz.,
the Minor Rock Edicts at Sahasram, Rupnath. and Bairat.
and the Minor Pillar Edicts at Sanchi and Kausambi.
There was still a crop of Asokan discoveries to follow.
In 1882, a fragment of R.E. VIII was discovered on a
broken block at Sopara by Dr. Bhagwan Lai Indraji.
The Mansehra Rock Edicts were discovered in parts by
Captain Leigh, and by an Indian subordinate of the Panjab
Archaeological Survey in 1889
The three Mysore Minor Rock Edicts were discovered by
Lewis Rice in 1891.
The Nigali Sagar Pillar Edict was discovered in 1895 and
the Rummindei in 1896 by Fuhrer.
In 1905 was discovered the Samath Pillar Edict by Oertel.
PREFATORY NOTE
xi
Lastly followed the discovery in 1915 of the Masld Rock
Inscription by C. Beadon, a gold-mining engineer of the
Nixam’s Government.
In the meanwhile, considerable advance in Asokan studies
was achieved in several publications, among which may be
mentioned Senart’s Let Inscriptions >h Piyadasi (iS8i), and
Uiihler's editions of the Asoka edicts in ZDMG, and
Ep >i;rapb.ia Indica , Vols. i. and ii. Along with these may be
also mentioned the important contributions to Asokan
scholarship made from time to time by scholars like O. Frankc,
V. A Smith, Fleet, Michelson, Luders, F. W, Thomas,
Hull /sch, I). R. Bhandarkar, K P. Jayaswal, B. M. Barua,
and A. < Woolner.
The last Stage in Asokan scholarship for some time to
come has been reached in the new edition of the Corpus
published in 1925 by Hultzsch whose recent death is a
deplorable loss to the study of Indian history in general and
to Asokan study in particular.
Now that the Asokan Text and Interpretation have
practically readied a final form and stage, a convenient text
bonk .m the subject seems to be called for in the interests
mainly of the growing number of students who have to offer
A soka as a subject of study at the University examinations.
The present compilation has no pretensions to originality,
except in the matter of some points in Asokan chronology
and of certain passages in the Edicts, notorious for the con-
troversy regarding their meanings, on which new interpreta-
tions have been suggested. The general interpretation of
Asoka's career docs not also follow always the usual or
accepted lines. The annotation of the inscriptions has been
made fuller and comprehensive so as to include the different
views and interpretations suggested, as well as parallel
passages from Sanskrit and Pali works throwing light on the
Points at issue. The correspondence between the Asokan
Edicts and Kautilya’s Arlhai&Stra has been specially worked
°'>t 'flic best preserved text of each Edict has been adopted
•«s the standard for its study, and important variations shown
in other texts have been pointed out in the footnotes. A
further dement of interest has been introduced in bringing
PREFATORY NOTE
XII
together in the work illustrations of important Asokan
monuments available. Most of these illustrations arc based
on photoprints supplied by the Archaeological Department,
but a few on photographs taken by me on the spot, viz.,
those of Dhauli, the Kalsi elephant, and the Pillars at
Bakhra, Lauriya Araraj, and Rummindci. The Dhauli
photograph I owe to Mr. Nirmal Bose, M.Sc, of Puri, and
the Rummindei to the arrangements kindly made by my
pupil, Mr. P. P. Panday, M.A.. of Narharia, Basti. A plate
showing the Asokan Alphabet (based on drawings kindly
prepared by Principal A K Haidar of the Government
School of Art and Crafts, Lucknow) has been added as an
aid to the study of the inscriptions in the original. 1 owe
special acknowledgments to Mr. Charan Das Chatterji, M.A.,
Lecturer in Indian History. Lucknow University, for many
valuable references and suggestions.
The system of transliteration adopted here may be
understood from -the following examples: Lichchhavi,
Krijtia, Mahdvamia, Both Sanskrit and Prakrit forms have
been used for certain words according to convenience.
My grateful acknowledgments are due to His Highness.
Sir Sayaji Rao Gackwad. of Baroda, and his Government for
their award to me of the Sayaji Rao GaekvaJ Prise with
which this work is associated, and to the Benares Hindu
University for Sir Maninira Chandra Nandy Lectures (1927),
based on portions of this work.
RADHAKUMUD MOOKERJ 1 .
Tim Univkbwty, Lucknow,
April, 1927 .
CONTENTS
ca»rttB p ' GO
I. Early Life akd Family i
II. History ”
Appendix A : On Asokan Chronology from the
Legends - • 44
III. Administration 47
IV. Religion 60
V. Monuments 79
VI. Social Conditions ioi
VII. Translation and Annotation of the Inscrip-
tions:
A. Minor Rock Edicts .... 107
B. Bhabru (Bairat No. 2) Rock Edict . 117
C. Kaunga Rock Edicts (Separate) . . 120
D. Fourtef.n Rock Edicts .... 128
E. Seven Pillar Edicts .... 172
F. Four Minor Pillar Edicts . . .193
G. Two Commemorative Pillar Inscrip-
tions 201
H. Three Cave Inscriptions . . .205
Appendix B : On the Chronology of the Asokan
Edicts 208
VIII. Text of the Insckipitons 215
Appendix C: On the Script, Dialect, and
Grammar of the Inscriptions . . .246
Index 255
ILLUSTRATIONS
KAIB
I. Capital or Asokas Pillar at Sakkath Fnmlispitet
II. Lauriya A rada i Pillar . . . To face page 14
III. Lumbini Pillar 37
IV. FlGURB TO 1 Kl-LPHAM- CARVUD OS’ SlONK AT
KAlsi Or
V. Ramtihwa Bell-Capital 62
VI. Sankasya Pillar with its Elephant Capitai m 84
VII. Bakhra Pillar with m Lion-Capital . „ SO
VIII. Raupurwa Lion-Capita 1 ,,90
IX. Lacriya Naxkanhar* Pim-ar 92
X BlIARIILT SCPLPTl'KE SHOW 1 ST. THE BODH-
Gaya Truple and an Imitation Asokan
1’ILLAR WITH Elepiiant-C M’lTAI 152
XI. Rock-cit Elephant at Diiavli 170
XII. Lunuint Pillar Isscrihton „ 201
XIII. Nativity in Scllptirk in tub Kcmmindei
Templf. 204
XIV. Brahmaciri Minor Uock Edict . . . „ 215
XV. Asokan Alphabet 246
Map or Asoka’s Empire M end
CHAPTER 1
EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY
Is the annals of kingship there is scarcely any record com-
parable to that of Asoka, both as a man and as a ruler. To
bring out the chief features of his greatness, historians have
instituted comparisons between him and other distinguished
monatchs in history, eastern and western, ancient and
modem, pagan, Moslem, and Christian. In his efforts to
establish a kingdom of righteousness after the highest ideals
of a theocracy, he lias been likened to David and Solomon
of Israel in the days of its greatest glory , in his patronage
of Buddhism, which helped to transform a local into a world
religion, he has been compared to Constantine 1 in relation to
Christianity ; in his philosophy and piety he recalls Marcus
Aurelius ; he was a Charlemagne in the extent of his empire
and. to some extent, in the methods oi his administration,
too,* while his Edicts, " rugged, uncouth, involved, full of
repetitions," read like the speeches of Oliver Cromwell in
their mannerisms [Rhys Davids]. Lastly, he has been com-
pared to Klialif Omar and Emperor Akbar, whom also he
resembles in certain respects
As in the case of great characters like King Arthur and his
1 Ii must be noted that opinions differ oil the appusiteness of the
comparison. Rhys Davids holds that the convetsion of Asoka was
the first great step on the downward path of Buddhism, the first
Step to its expulsion from India. Another critic holds that while
“ Constantine espoused a winning cause, Asoka put himself at the
head of an unpopular religious reform/’
* Compare the mini f/ominci of Clink" magne akin to the puruyai
of Asokan edicts, and the Matkgraftn to the Auta-Mahamitras.
2
ASOKA
Knights of the Round Tabic, the good King Alfred, or King
St. Louis of France, a mass of tradition has gathered round
the name of Asoka. Myths and legends have freely and
luxuriantly grown round it, especially in the tropical climate
of Ceylon, and it would have been very difficult to recover
his true history, were it not for the fact that he has himself
left us a sort of autobiography in his messages to his people,
written on rocky surfaces or exquisitely finished and polished
pillars of stone. In these sermons on stone we find his true
self revealed and expressed, his philosophy of life, his con-
ception of an emperor’s duties and responsibilities, and the
extent to which he lived to realise the high ideals and prin-
ciples he professed and preached. This kind of evidence,
which is not only a contemporary but a personal record, too,
is unique in Indian history, and. whether suggested by
indigenous or foreign precedents, it is fortunate we have it
for one of our greatest men. " O that my words were
written ! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead
in the rock for ever ! " This pious wish of Job was more
than realised in the case of Asoka in a series of thirty-five
inscriptions published on rock or pillar, of which some arc
located at the extremities of his empire.
Of the two sources of his history, the legends (whether
Ceylonese or Indian) rather hover over his early life and
tend to retreat before the light of the edicts thrown upon
his later life, his career as emperor. The two sources arc,
again, sometimes in agreement, but oftener in conflict, in
which case the inscriptions, as personal and contemporary
documents, will have to be preferred, Moreover, the
legends are themselves at conflict with one another in
many places, and thus betray themselves all the more.
Ceylon tradition (as narrated in the Dipavamza and the
Mahdvamsa) makes Bindus&ra the husband of sixteen wives
and father of ror sons, of whom only three are named, viz.,
Sumana (Suslma according to the northern legends), fhe
eldest, Asoka, and Tisya (uterine brother of Asoka), the
youngest son. The mother of Asoka in the northern tradi-
tion is Subhadrfifigl. 1 the beautiful daughter of a Brahman
1 Mentioned in the A stAtOvadJnamalft. but not in tl«’ DivyihvuUlM.